I call it, not-so-originally, my Kitchen Table Office. I usually have flowers and I am almost always slugging down coffee from my favorite owl mug. If there are cookies nearby, then I have only a few feet to traverse to find them, thank goodness.

Who wants to work hard to find a chocolate chip cookie? Not me.

The lion is from Rebel Dancing Daughter when she went to Kenya. I stare at it for humor.

I keep journals around for ideas and to write through teeth-gritting problems I’m having with my book. One of my journals says:

Trust Your Crazy Ideas.

Which, by the way, you should, fellow writers. Take off and fly. Trust your crazy ideas and the zany, off-beat, swirling and twirling ones. Examine them. Throw them around. See if they’ll work.

I also love to write outside, in my backyard. This is called, again, not-so-originally, “My Backyard Office.”

I can get distracted because I love to stare at my garden and make outlandish plans for building a blue, curving slide from the second story into a pool, a ten foot rock fountain, a hot tub with Keanu Reeves inside, and that sort of thing.

But I find it peaceful, too, which makes me want to write. I’ve seen hummingbirds, blue jays, raccoon, and possums out there and we have no problems with each other.

As long as the bees aren’t swarming and wanting to eat me, I like my little corner under the trumpet vine, next to the impatiens.

Sometimes I have to write with Little Kitty nearby, the cat that Darling Laughing Son dropped off at my house before he skipped away across the seas for an internship.

I like watching our wisteria vine grow and my faux windmill spin.

Adventurous Singing Daughter and I planted Sunflowers and I love watching them grow taller each day.

An outside “office” works for me. Nature is inspiring. Gardening gives me ideas.

Maybe it would work for you, too, although for those of you who get three feet of snow in winter it probably won’t work well unless you can keyboard in gloves.

I do have a place for my extra books and journals in a small bedroom upstairs.

And I do have a place for “junk.”

The junk is in a corner of my dining room. I have NO IDEA why I keep it there. Really. It’s a nice dining room with red walls and a chandelier.

It makes no sense unless we’re going to EAT the manuscripts and notes. Paper is not tasty but, alas, there it stays.

I should move it, I should.

I probably won’t.

Many writers have cleaned out closets and moved in a small table.

Other writers have claimed part of a room in their home for their office. The room might also have exercise equipment (MUST we use it?) and boxes of Christmas decoration (We really need to haul a bunch of that to Goodwill), but it’s their space.

Some writers have a desk in the family room where the kids screech and yell and the dog barks. They learn to shut all that out unless there’s blood or the police arrive with a noise complaint.

Some have a true writer’s office. (See PS below.)

Their writer’s office is only for them, decorated with color, quotes, books they love, and lists of Things To Do. The views are cool, the dogs wander in to chat, and their imagination leaps about.

Go and create a space for yourself. Go make pretty. Find a corner. Find a room. Find a wall. Find a desk, find a table.

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/08/readers-coffeehouse-huge-book-giveaway/feed/0Thank you, Debbie Macomberhttp://cathylamb.org/2017/08/thank-you-debbie-macomber/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=thank-you-debbie-macomber
http://cathylamb.org/2017/08/thank-you-debbie-macomber/#respondTue, 01 Aug 2017 05:07:21 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4519I was so happy about this I teared up! Debbie Macomber recommended my new book, “No Place I’d Rather Be,” as one of thirteen books to read on Book Bub.

She’s a wonderful author and a wonderful person, and I am so delighted I am going to make myself chocolate chip cookie bars and say, “Cheers to you, Debbie!”

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/on-being-a-good-wife/feed/1Narnia, Star Wars, Little House On The Prairie – Which Do You Want?http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/narnia-star-wars-little-house-on-the-prairie-which-do-you-want/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=narnia-star-wars-little-house-on-the-prairie-which-do-you-want
http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/narnia-star-wars-little-house-on-the-prairie-which-do-you-want/#commentsMon, 24 Jul 2017 20:20:14 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4510I posted this question on facebook recently, and thought you all might like to see the answers. Post yours below, if you would like!

This is a very important and extremely serious question so grab a slice of pie and ice cream and get ready to think really, really hard. If you had to go and live inside one of these books for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why? Extra points: Which character would you be?

1) The Narnia Chronicles.
2) The Lord of The Rings
3) Star Wars
4) Fifty Shades of Grey
5) Little House on The Prairie
6) Outlander

Bridgette TullosI would be a Jedi from Star Wars that lived on a Little House on a Paririe that lived in the Shire in Scotland

Kelly KileDefinitely Star Wars!!! And I would be my hero, Princess/General Leia. She’s such a badass! One of the first women I ever looked up to <3

Barb Dowdell JamesOutlander would be my first inclination as I could travel through the stones to different times but then I am a creature who likes modern plumbing every day so for that alone I will say Fifty Shades– but only as a secretary or something because he and she and just too hinky for my liking…….

Pamela Bohrer AllenWell I’ve never seen 1,2 3, or 6, so I’ll go with Little House and Laura! Such a wonderful character, fun and adventure! Maybe I’ll check out the other movies sometime..if I can get my nose out of a good book! ♡

Debbie RhodesLittle House. I would be Caroline Engels, the mom because I loved Michael Landon, what a cutie. I like olden days and simple times and I would like making my own clothes and you can’t beat fresh garden vegis! I already have nightgowns and a bonnet. Ha

Lori TaylorLittle House … Im a middle sister and my name is Laura.. I always thought I was her anyway

Tosha DillardLaura from Little House on the Pairie. Read the books and love the show.

Greer MacallisterI would probably live in Fifty Shades just because it seems that world offers the least chance of dying. (Look, even the Prairie had its dangers!) I could just be some sort of bystander or sassy friend or something, right?

Susan Dentler CrossI’ve been thinking really hard, all the while eating my pie and ice cream but not finished thinking! Another piece of pie and ice cream and I will make a firm decision! But I am leaning toward Laura in “Little House”!

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/narnia-star-wars-little-house-on-the-prairie-which-do-you-want/feed/1Need Chocolates And A Book? Julia’s Chocolates is $7.43http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/need-chocolates-and-a-book-julias-chocolates-is-7-43/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=need-chocolates-and-a-book-julias-chocolates-is-7-43
http://cathylamb.org/2017/07/need-chocolates-and-a-book-julias-chocolates-is-7-43/#respondWed, 19 Jul 2017 19:19:33 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4508She threw her wedding dress into a dead tree on a dusty road in North Dakota and took off to a farmhouse painted pink with a rainbow bridge in the front yard and five giant concrete pigs. She started over.

This is the cheapest I’ve ever seen Julia’s Chocolates, paperback, sell for. $7.43.

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/chocolates-for-life-and-advice-on-writing/feed/0Golfing and Writing And Throwing Clubs In A Lakehttp://cathylamb.org/2017/06/golfing-and-writing-and-throwing-clubs-in-a-lake/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=golfing-and-writing-and-throwing-clubs-in-a-lake
http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/golfing-and-writing-and-throwing-clubs-in-a-lake/#respondMon, 26 Jun 2017 05:24:37 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4504(Printed in Writers In the Storm: http://writersinthestormblog.com/)

I recently started golfing. My husband (nicknamed “Innocent Husband” because the poor man can never be held responsible for what his wife says or writes), made me.

He has been hoping I would golf with him for over two decades.

I have resisted. Even thinking about trying to put a tiny white ball into a tiny hole hundreds of yards off made my brain want to bust open and shriek.

I am a terrible golfer. No one told me that golf balls have evil brains. No one told me that the golf ball will do whatever it wants to do no matter how I swing the club. I have hit trees and almost Innocent Husband. I have hit my ball into grass so deep, and so far off course, it took ten minutes to find it.

But I love it. Unbelievably. Miraculously. I love it. As I love writing.

So let me link golfing and writing if I can. I think they have some things in common besides swear words.

1) Practice Swinging and Scribbling . Golfing takes practice. It’s going to take a lot of practice for me to get the ball to go straight instead of heading straight towards the sand pit. Writing does, too. It takes practice for beginners and for people who have won The National Book Award. You must write. Write and edit your manuscript, but write an article or a blog, too. If you like poetry, write a poem. Write a letter. Write on your computer, write by hand in a beautiful journal. Write in a whole new genre. Write.

2) Analyze and Dissect. You need to analyze your golf swing so you don’t keep swinging and swinging…and the golf ball is still sitting there cackling meanly up at you from the tee.

You need to analyze your own work. Don’t tell yourself you’re terrible, but take a hard, deep, honest look at your plot. Will it find an audience? Who is your audience? Is the plot, truly, interesting? What about the characters? Are they unique, compelling, funny, maddening or diabolical? If they need to be likable, are they likable? What about the pacing of your book? Slow pacing kills a plot. I have seen this a hundred times. Is your plot moving right along?

What about the dialogue? Is it realistic? Is it flat out amusing or threatening or thought provoking or utterly sincere? Does it tell the reader about the personality of the characters? Are you using the setting and weather to enhance the plot? Are there character arcs? Will your story evoke emotion in the reader? Will it make them laugh or cry or think or all three? It should.

3) Get Outside and Groove. You need to get outside to golf unless you want to break a window and you need to get outside to write. On nice days I set my computer up on my table in my back yard. Hiking helps. Walking helps. Going to the lake or the beach or the mountain helps. (Don’t golf in the mountains.) You need to get a different perspective and being outside will help you think through your work.

4) Learn from others, like I learn from Innocent Husband when he’s coaching me on the golf course and telling me not to treat the golf ball as the enemy. Read your favorite authors and take their work apart. Why do you like their books? How can you put those elements in your own work? I have learned from Geraldine Brooks, Alice Walker, James McBride, Bailey White, Kaye Gibbons, etc. If you read a book you didn’t like, why? What can you do to make sure you don’t repeat that author’s mistake?

5) Never throw your golf clubs in the lake. Too expensive. Never quit writing if it’s something you love to do. Never.

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/golfing-and-writing-and-throwing-clubs-in-a-lake/feed/0A Teeny, Tiny Lie About Golfinghttp://cathylamb.org/2017/06/a-teeny-tiny-lie-about-golfing/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=a-teeny-tiny-lie-about-golfing
http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/a-teeny-tiny-lie-about-golfing/#commentsTue, 20 Jun 2017 20:03:08 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4499For years I told Innocent Husband, an avid golfer, that I would golf with him when I retired.

That was deceptive.

I have no plans to retire from writing. I like daydreaming while slugging down coffee and translating daydreams into stories.

I told him that teeny, tiny marital lie because I didn’t want to golf.

For me, a person who is not very patient, trying to put a tiny white ball into a tiny hole in the ground from hundreds of yards away is my idea of mental mayhem and emotional chaos.

I pictured myself hurdling my club into the sky in frustration and accidentally hitting a sweet duck flying overhead.

I pictured myself as one of those crazy people who heaves their clubs into a pond and then stumbles in after them.

But then Innocent Husband, who so wants me to golf with him, broke the agreement about retirement/golfing.

He got a sweetheart of a deal on golf clubs, secretly signed me up for lessons with two of my girlfriends, and voila. I’m out on the driving range.

Susan and Debbie and I looked at each other in disbelief that first day. How did we get here? What the heck happened? They are also non-golfers and were tricked into this game by their husbands.

I was terrible. What was this stick thing I was gripping? Why did the ball go sailing off to the right instead of straight? I actually managed to hit one ball almost straight up into the air. Another three feet and I would have had a black eye or no nose.

Innocent Husband, delighted at my attempts, took me out on the golf course. I swung and missed hitting that bad ball, sitting on the tee, mocking me, laughing at me, numerous times.

I sent one ball careening into someone’s backyard. I hit three trees, as if the trees were my enemy. I darn near smacked Innocent Husband with a golf ball and did not yell, “Fore!” because I didn’t know I was supposed to.

In addition, putting is a mystery. I seem to have to whack every ball as far as I can, as if speed is of the essence.

But a funny thing happened: I loved it.

Yes, I love golf. I don’t have the cute, spiffy golf clothes that women wear. I am wearing an old orange golf shirt of my husband’s and green shorts I’ve had for at least five years. So no cutesy skort for me with a matching collared shirt.

But I’ve learned something: I really need to try more new things. I have been swamped with writing, raising kids, a house and garden, and a whole bunch of other stressful “life stuff” that unfortunately comes down the pike for all of us.

Which led me to this question, especially since I am now an empty-nester: What else should I try? What else would be interesting or entertaining or just flat out new?

What hobbies or interests do you want to try? What adventures do you want to have? What countries or states do you want to visit?

]]>http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/a-teeny-tiny-lie-about-golfing/feed/1Short, Sweet, Happy Beach Readshttp://cathylamb.org/2017/06/short-sweet-happy-beach-reads/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=short-sweet-happy-beach-reads
http://cathylamb.org/2017/06/short-sweet-happy-beach-reads/#respondTue, 20 Jun 2017 17:41:26 +0000http://cathylamb.org/?p=4491If you like short stories, that I PROMISE will end happy, try these. I have a story in each anthology.

I tried to put a lot of humor in because I think we women all need to laugh. I LOVED writing these modern-day, real women, real men romances.

I think I’m a romantic at heart. My husband might disagree, but I do TRY. And trying counts, right?